A complaint filed by Republican challenger Clinton Porter has put state Rep. Naquetta Ricks’s campaign disclosures before Colorado election officials days before the Nov. 3 election. Porter filed the complaint with the Secretary of State on Oct. 22, according to Colorado Politics. Ricks, an Aurora Democrat seeking a fourth and final term representing House District 40, has not been found to have violated campaign-finance rules.
The Secretary of State’s first step is limited: the office says its Enforcement Team makes an initial assessment within 10 business days to determine whether a complaint is timely and identifies a possible violation supported by sufficient facts. That assessment is not a final determination that a violation occurred, according to the state’s complaint guidance. Based on Porter’s filing date, Colorado Politics reported that the initial review deadline is Nov. 5.
What the filings show—and what they do not
The issue is a mismatch between Ricks’s committee reports and contributions disclosed by other committees. Colorado Politics reported that Ricks’s campaign filed all 14 reports required for the 2025–26 cycle, each showing no money received or spent, while outside committee disclosures listed 42 contributions totaling $21,525 to her campaign from December 2024 through Oct. 13. Those included a $6,200 contribution from Building a Stronger Colorado on June 4 and $1,000 contributions from COPIC Small Donor Committee and Colorado State Conference of Electrical Workers Small Donor Committee.
The same reporting put the campaign account balance at $6,350.84 from December 2024 through Oct. 14, despite campaign-related activity including an Aug. 22 kickoff, an Oct. 1 donation appeal and an Oct. 14 fundraiser. Colorado Politics reported that Ricks had earlier attributed the reporting problem to an ill treasurer and later declined to continue answering the outlet’s questions.
Ricks’s leadership PAC is a separate part of the picture: Colorado Politics reported that it disclosed $2,175 in 2025 contributions and an $5,800 balance, but no expenditures or outgoing contributions for the 2025–26 cycle. The outlet also reported that Ricks has an unpaid $50 penalty connected to a late May 2022 report. The Secretary of State’s campaign-finance manual says late reports can incur a $50-per-day penalty, including weekends and holidays, even when a committee had no activity during the reporting period.
Porter’s own reports provide a contrast in disclosed campaign activity, though they do not resolve the allegations against Ricks. The Kim Monson Colorado Voter Guide lists Porter’s reported receipts at $15,542.48 from 87 contributions and spending at $19,298.80 across 105 expenditures; it lists Ricks at zero reported contributions and expenditures.
A limited comparison from state enforcement records
Colorado has imposed late-filing penalties in other cases, but those records are not findings about Ricks. In a separate matter, the Secretary of State’s Elections Division said it imposed a $250 penalty on Colorado Dawn IEC on Oct. 31, 2022, for a late independent-expenditure report, which the committee later paid, according to the Division’s complaint. That case involved independent-expenditure reports, not the candidate-committee disclosures at issue here. The outcome of Porter’s complaint, and how the reported contributions will be accounted for, remains unresolved.
